Teachers strike to close at least two secondary schools

PUBLISHED: 18:01 18 April 2008 | UPDATED: 13:12 06 May 2010

Marlborough headteacher Anne Thomson

AT LEAST two schools in the St Albans district will be closed next Thursday, April 24, as teachers strike over pay – and more closures could be announced next week. Marlborough School headteacher Anne Thomson has announced that the school will be shut, ap

AT LEAST two schools in the St Albans district will be closed next Thursday, April 24, as teachers strike over pay - and more closures could be announced next week.

Marlborough School headteacher Anne Thomson has announced that the school will be shut, apart from some post-16, Year 11 and Year 10 lessons, and Beaumont School will be closed to all students except sixth-formers and those sitting exams.

Coach and canteen services will be suspended at Marlborough and it is yet to be confirmed whether this will also be the case at Beaumont.

It's the first national strike called by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) for 21 years and it is over a Government pay deal offered to teachers.

A Herts County Council spokesperson explained that teachers only needed to give headteachers 48 hours notice that they would be striking so it was possible that further schools in the district would announce closures next week.

She said that once the headteachers were aware of how many staff would be striking they would then make their individual decisions about whether to close or not.